Neutrons can be utilized for various applications. Production of monoenergetic neutrons is commonly performed using either a beam-on-target configuration or a plasma configuration, which can create a center-of-mass energy for deuterium-deuterium (DD) or deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion (e.g., 2.5 MeV and 14 MeV). These devices can be referred to as neutron sources. Sources in a beam-on-target configuration can be DC (constant beam) or pulsed. In some instances, radioactive sources such as plutonium-beryllium (PuBe) or americium (Am) can be used. Yet, radioactive sources can have a drawback in that such sources can create radiological hazards.
The beam-on-target configuration generally provides continuous emission or a long train of emissions (e.g., linear accelerator designs) composed of microsecond bursts, which can be comprised of a sequence of approximately 1 ns pulses and beam energies of 5 keV to 500 keV. In order to develop appreciable numbers of neutrons, many pulses may be provided. Moreover, common plasma sources, such as dense plasma focus (DPF), can use short pulses (e.g., on the order of nanoseconds to microseconds).
In a plasma configuration, ions are commonly confined and have many opportunities to react and fuse, thereby creating neutrons. Such confinement can result in neutrons in a plasma as compared to the energy of the beam in a beam-on-target configuration. Various types of techniques for plasma generation are conventionally utilized. Examples of such techniques include inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and magnetic confinement fusion. In inertial confinement fusion, reactions can be initiated by heating and compressing a fuel target, typically in the form of a pellet that often contains a mixture of deuterium and tritium. In magnetic confinement fusion, magnetic fields can be utilized to confine hot fusion fuel in the form of plasma.